[dusty83]

Hi, I am new to this forum and I was unsure where to post my problem so I hope here is ok! There is a stray cat who lives around my apartment. The people who used to live next to me abandoned her when they left a few months ago. Everyone in my complex has been feeding her but have been unable to take her in. I found out about it just recently so I decided to take her in. I have another cat, he is almost a year old and he is very playful. So I figured it would do him good to have a friend to be with every day (hopefully this was a good idea!). Now what I'm worrying about is yesterday we tried catching her outside to take her to the vet. Well, she got scared and ran off so I had to reschedule the appt. for today. So to make it easier for us to catch her today, we put her in the basement last night. Now, she is a very sweet cat..she let everyone pet her, she tried following them into their houses when they fed her..but she gets scared easily. So when we brought her in the house she first was meowing at the door and there is glass in it so she kept running at it b/c she thought she could get out. Then we brought her in the basement so she wouldn't come in contact with my other cat till she got checked by the vet. We checked on her later that evening and she was hiding behind the washer/dryer looking really scared. She won't come see us, I think she is scared and she looks sad. Anyways, my question is..is this normal behavior when first taking in a stray? She had owners before and they kept her inside and all. They were not nice people so I don't really know how they treated her. But now I'm feeling it was a bad idea and she will be miserable forever if I take her in. I'm thinking I should have just left her outside and forgotton about it. I just don't know what to think. I feel bad. Anyone been in this situation before? What happened? Any info/advice would be helpful. Thanks a lot!!!

 

[CyberPet]

Welcome to the forum!

I'm not too familiar with taking in strays, but my suggestion would be to try to spend some time with the cat. Being in the basement all alone might be scary so if you or someone else could perhaps be there for a while. Not perhaps play with the cat or try to pet it, but just be there, talking softly or reading out loud from a book and see if the cat doesn't come out from the hiding.

I'm sure the cat will warm up eventually when she finds out that humans can be nice and caring. Just give it some time and I'm sure all will be good.

 

[BoscosMum]

I adopted Bosco from an ad in the paper....when I brought him home he hid for almost 3 weeks. I just left food out and checked to make sure he was using his litter everyday. He came out in his own time and he is the purrfect cat anyone could ever want!

 

[Annissa]

I'm so glad you took in the stray cat. I always hear stories of people abandoning their animals when they move, but I still don't understand why they do it. It makes me so sad. But then, you say they weren't nice people so it seems to me the kitty is much better off with you.

It's normal for a cat to be frightened for a while in a new surrounding. There's new places, new smells, new people... And if her old family treated her badly she probably has quite a bit of fear. You can change all that. Be patient with her and spend plenty of time with her. Read to her and let her get to know your voice and smell. She'll come around in her own time. She might always be skittish, but if you take care of her the way she was meant to be taken care of, she'll love you forever.